The concern over electromagnetic radiation from the proposed extension of the Shanghai Maglev reminds me of the days when people were freaking out about the same kind of radiation from power line towers (not to mention the same from cell phones). In fact, that concern grew so much back in high school we actually nicknamed one park in Fremont “cancer park” since it was under a couple of power line areas. People would refuse to buy the homes that were near those power lines, so freaked out they were over bogus reports.


So, it comes as no surprise to me to see the Shanghainese going crazy about the proposed extensions:

 At 2pm, over 100 people had gathered by the Urban Planning Museum. There were about 30 policemen and 10 police cars. These were all normal policemen, there were no military police, no riot police. A public bus 205 was also there, and some from the crowd had already been arrested and put in it. From there to the fountain on the square, about 1,000 people were gathered around, and suddenly they began chanting slogans (nobody was leading them). They gathered in front of the fountain, in front of the municipal government building and began chanting, “Oppose the Maglev!” 30 minutes later, there was a loud-hailer that screamed, “Please leave immediately”. The shocked crowd began to disperse quickly, but later they found out that it was just the fountain that was going to be turned on. Laughter broke out and they continued chanting. 10 minutes later, the police started rounding people up and people began dispersing. The police were generally quite ok, but there were one or two policemen who would be pushing people around, including the elderly, the women and the tourists. The police began dispersing people to outside the square. The bus (with the arrested guys) attempted to drive off but were stopped by the crowd. Eventually it still broke through the crowd and drove off anyway.

Heck, I know someone at work who loves to sell those idiotic “blocking cellphone radiation” patches. Not only is it ridiculous, but if it really did block the radiation properly, the phone itself would no longer work!

Back to the point of maglev radiation; at this point in time from all reports of many types of any kinds of non-ultrahigh frequency electromagnetic radiation, maglevs do not produce harmful radiation on humans:

 A 1999 press article reported that a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory had faked links between electromagnetic radiation and cancer.  He had tossed out data that didn’t support his conclusions.  More than 20 studies since have found little evidence that the magnetic fields around electric power radiation cause cancer[.]

[...]

We do know that X-rays, and other powerful ultrahigh-frequency electromagnetic radiation, such as exposure to ultraviolet from the sun, can cause cancer.  Because of their very high frequency, microwave ovens may also be dangerous if they leak much radiation. [...] Whether or not radiation is dangerous depends upon its frequency.  The guideway power frequency will be comparable to if not exactly our regular 60-cycle power, microwaves are a billion or more times higher, and ultraviolet and X-rays are thousands of times higher than that.  Engineers at the Canadian Institute of Guided Ground Transport found that “The radiation from Transrapid maglev vehicles won’t bother the passengers, their electric watches, or their pacemakers.”

At some point in time, Snopes will have something about these urban myths (I’m just surprised that it hasn’t been posted yet).